Page:Vol 1 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/224

104 back for generations, should all converge toward the coming of the brethren of Quetzalcoatl at the very time the Spaniards appeared, and that the latter shouldargument to prove it a volcanic eruption, one of his points being that the original picture-writing places the light as appearing behind, or from, the mountains east of the city. In 1510, ''Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich''., 278, or year five, toxtli. Codex Chimalpopoca, MS.; ''Camargo, Hist. Tlax''., 139. Torquemada, who had no other authority for the preceding comet than Herrera, considered that by the comet was meant this light, i. 234. Humboldt suggests that the fiery pyramid may have been a zodiacal light. Astrologers announced that it portended wars, famine, pestilence, mortality among the lords, every imaginable ill, in fact, and causing one general cry of fear and lament. Montezuma himself was so troubled that he applied for advice to Nezahualpilli, although they had not been on speaking terms for some time. This royal astrologer showed his apprehensions by ordering all campaigns then upon his hands to be suspended, and announced to his confrère that the disasters in store would be brought upon the empire by a strange race. Montezuma expressed his disbelief, and proposed a game of tlachtli to decide the interpretation. As if resigned to the fate predicted for himself, and desirous of showing how little he appreciated wealth and power, Nezahualpilli is said to have staked on the result his kingdom against three turkey-cocks. The wager was not so hazardous, however, as it seemed, for the king of Tezcuco was a good player. After allowing Montezuma to win the first two points, and raising high his hopes, he stopped his exultation by scoring the rest for himself. Still doubtful, Montezuma called on an astrologer famous for his many true announcements, only to receive confirmation of Nezahualpilli's utterance, whereupon the irate monarch caused the house to be pulled down over the diviner, who perished in the ruins. ''Ixtlixochitl, Hist. Chich., 278-9; Veytia, Hist. Ant. Méj''., iii. 345-7. Clavigero, who connects the game with a comet, is quite earnest in asserting his belief in traditions and presages of the coming of Spaniards, as attested by native paintings and by witnesses of high standing. 'Se il Demonio pronosticava le futura calamità per ingannar qué 'miserabili Popoli, il pietosissimo Dio le annunziava per disporre i loro spiriti al Vangelo.' Storia Mess., i. 288–9. According to Duran, the summoning of Nezahualpilli was due to a comet with an enormous tail, which burst upon the view of a temple-watcher as it rose in the east and settled above the city. Montezuma, who had been roused to witness the phenomenon, called on his sorcerers for an explanation, and on finding that they had seen nothing, had them punished for their sloth. The wise Tezcucan then came and presaged dire calamities, which would also afflict himself. He was resigned, and would retire to await death. This was to be the last interview between the two kings. ''Hist. Ind''., MS., ii. 274-85. Torquemada compares the comet to that which, according to Josephus, lib. vii. cap. xii., presaged the entry of Titus into Judea. When Nezahualpilli returned to his palace, a hare ran into the halls, pursued by eager domestics, but he bade them to leave it, saying that even so would a strange people enter into Anáhuac without resistance. Torquemada, i. 211-12, 214. Bernal Diaz speaks of a round sign in the eastern sky, of a reddish green, to which was attached a streak extending eastward. The consequent predictions of war and pestilence he finds fulfilled in the campaign of Cortés, and in the smallpox epidemic introduced by Narvaez. ''Hist. Verdad.'' (Paris ed. 1837), iv. 460 1. Among the accounts of celestial signs which may be based on the preceding is one by Camargo, describing a brightness observed in the cast by the Tlascaltecs, three hours before dawn, accompanied by a whirlwind of dust from the summit of Mount Matlalcueje. Remesal refers probably to the same whirlwind under the guise of a white cloud, like a pillar, which often appeared in the east before sunrise, and afterward descended upon the cross erected in Tlascala by the Spaniards. The natives accepted this